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Wow. Good action this morning. Lots of volume so far at 700,000 shares in Canada on the various exchanges.
I am glad to have watched TD constantly move their orders up and down and finally get taken out.
CIBC was sitting there with an order for just under 20,000 shares and TD had just under 50,000 shares for sale. All got taken out and bought up.
It then got to around $1.83 (CDN) and selling pressure came back.
My opinion is the real institutional buyers are doing this properly. Why chase this price up now as they know there are flippers out there who want off their paper. It’s the end of the month (but not the end a quarter).
We are going to be fine.
Today the perfect storm has coalesced and presented investors an opportunity to pick up shares on the cheap.
Add while you can. We won't be sub-$2.00 for long.
The bid and offers are lining up in Canada at $2.48.
I suspect we go higher as much of the selling yesterday actually held the price down. Most of the flippers getting out with a profit and still keeping their warrants.
Good day yesterday for both Titan and for those who were able to get in cheap one last time.
I am hoping there will be an investment shift from ISRG to Titan as well from a risk reward perspective (or upside perspective).
Have a great day today.
Long and strong.
This is very impressive trading, I can see a $2.50 close coming on the Canadian side. The market clearly likes the deal. Great investor sentiment here on the board as well.
Now that management has completed raising all of the capital that they set out for they can focus on getting the product to market. Investors also now know where we stand as no additional financing will need to be completed (especially with the warrant money out there).
Right now the Company is currently working on an orthotopic in-vivo rat model, where they are actually inducing bladder cancer.
We should be getting the results from that testing over the new few weeks, and then the following needs to be accomplished before Phase 1/2a human trials can start:
- GMP needs to be tested in a pharmaceutical environment
- Toxicity analysis
- The Clinical Protocol needs to be written
- Drug Master File assembled
So Theralase still needs to complete a bit of work, but in the mean time we will still be getting some results from the lab, and regular updates on the how final production / rollout of the TLC-2000 is going.
If you are concerned about the timing of your purchase you can always wait out the down trend and buy on the way back up.
On March 7th the Company completed an oversubscribed equity PP that raised $3.15M - with shares at $0.15 and warrants t $0.20 (all $ CDN).
That deal became free trading on March 7th, so all things considered, I would say that Theralase is trading quite well weeks after the fact.
I too saw that this morning on Stockwatch.
This was not just the new issue flippers getting out of the financing and playing the warrants. There were a bunch of investors who held the last set of warrants (the series C warrants) that were shorting the stock against the warrants. The security was the warrant as they could simply exercise them to cover the short.
When the financing was announced they simply had a gift and could either cover their short position on the open market (and lock in their profit) or buy the new issue to cover the short position and keep the warrant (and again lock in their profit). I would say about half of the 2 million shares (in other words 1 million) were the flippers and half were the guys who held warrants from the last financing. Either way, good move as they made money.
I was saying that I believe Titan will not make it to $25 as they will be taken out first.
HOWEVER
They can get to $25 per share if they were to partner with someone larger…….as they will not be able to go it alone.
FYI, that is not a bad thing either. Let Titan specialize on the technology and let some another specialize on the distribution.
Here are some of my personal highlights from the piece.
I don't attest to being a medical expert, but the medical professionals that write and publish peer-reviewed papers are.
There have been three peer reviewed papers published that validate the company’s statements of efficacy in these compounds’ ability to annihilate bacteria, viruses and cancer cells.
One, by the American Society for Microbiology, published in February 2013, concluded:
“There is a recent recognition that Ru(II) (Ruthenium compounds) complexes might prove useful as Photo Dynamic agents, particularly for virulent strains of infectious disease including gram-negative pathogens, owing to their intrinsic cationic charge. However, these Photo Sensitizers (PSs) will continue to suffer from the inability to destroy microbial targets at low oxygen tension, and since precise knowledge of oxygen tension in a wound, for example, is not possible, the best PDI agent will be one that can function regardless of oxygen tension. In this report, we have demonstrated that it is possible to instill Type I activity into a simple mononuclear Ru(II) complex using principles derived from coordination and materials chemistry. This activity was outlined in Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus or SA) and Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in hypoxia, and proved to be as effective, or more effective in some cases, than normoxia. Equally important, the TLD1400 series is active at concentrations of over 3 orders of magnitude lower than the gold standard PS Methylene Blue (MB). This photodynamic potency applies to bacterial cells and cancer cells alike, and therefore, represents a new paradigm for designing Type I PS using Ru(II) that extends to other clinical applications.”
In another published paper The Royal Society of Chemistry stated
“To improve the effective elimination of tumours by Photo Dynamic Therapy (PDT), PSs with a range of 10 photophysical and photobiological attributes must be developed, including: specific cellular and subcellular targeting, maintenance of high cytotoxic load in oxygen-depleted environments and activation by light with necessary penetration depths, but sufficient photon quantum energy to produce cytotoxic Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). Thus, an ideal PS should be a chemically pure compound with high tissue and cellular selectivity that (i) exhibits long wavelength absorptions preferably at wavelengths (>670nm) to provide larger tissue penetration depths (e-1 attenuation depth), (ii) possesses a short injection to light time interval (drug-light interval), (iii) has low dark toxicity, but strong photo cytotoxicity, and (iv) rapidly clears from the system."
This precisely describes Theralase’s TLD1400 series PDCs.
So a small Phase 1 / 2a clinical trial, which was successful in demonstrating the safety, tolerability and efficacy of the treatment could potentially qualify for Breakthrough Status.
If the company was granted Breakthrough Status, the FDA works hand in hand with the company to minimize the time to commercialization to a bare minimum.
“So if all the stars are in alignment,” continued Demoulin-White, “after completion of our preclinical research this year, successful completion of our Phase 1 / 2a human clinical trial in 2015, and we are lucky enough to successfully petition the FDA to achieve Breakthrough Status, our PDC technology could be available to treat patients suffering from bladder cancer by early 2016.
If we were not able to achieve Breakthrough Status, we would still be eligible for Fast Track approval, which even with a Phase 2B or Phase 3 clinical study, would only delay commercialization an additional two to five years.
In parallel to this strategy, we would be actively looking for a co-development partner, most likely big pharma in order to aid in the distribution of this revolutionary technology to locations throughout North America and in due course the world."
If Theralase can successfully petition for Breakthrough Status, the Company would have the ability to commercialize rapidly - as early as 2016. The bladder cancer market alone is a $4 billion industry, not to mention the potential for spin-offs that not only has Theralase been working on (see their latest press release), but also peers within the industry.
Theralase has gotten back excellent lab results, and have already tested their PDCs against the two other FDA approved PDCs that are currently on the market - Theralase PDCs drastically outperformed the others (ALA and Photofrin).
Granted Theralase is in its early stages, but the risk/reward scenario here is significant.
There is some paper that becomes free trading at the beginning of March, so over the next few months would be an excellent time to start a position.
James West, author of the Midas Letter, just wrote an article this morning about Theralase. There is some excellent information for prospective and current shareholders.
http://www.midasletter.com/2014/02/theralase-technologies-inc-cure-cancer/
Theralase Technologies Inc: A Cure For Cancer? Written By: James West| February 24, 2014| Posted In:Top Stories
Theralase Technologies Inc: A Cure for Cancer?
Theralase Technologies Inc. (TSX.V:TLT) (OTCMKTS:TLTFF) (FRA:TXT) has a simple value proposition: a cure for cancer. If there is one thing that might be considered the most valuable and important discovery in this century, it is without doubt a cure for cancer. There is no one who has not been affected in some way by the most lethal disease of our lifetimes. My grandfather died of prostate cancer, my grandmother of lung cancer, my uncle of prostate cancer when he was in his early 50s.
Listen to the interview with Theralase CEO Roger Demoulin-White:
00:00 00:00
And the pretenders to this holiest grail of the life sciences have been legion. To date, the results have been dismal at best. In an era when deaths from cancer are expected to rise dramatically, the lack of progress is nothing short of alarming.
The number of people who are qualified to analyze and verify the data are obviously few in number, and so I certainly don’t make any claims of being capable of assessing Theralase’s technology.
My rationale for participating in this company as an investor is straightforward:
If it works, it will be huge. If it doesn’t, then I take that risk willingly and on a calculated basis, knowing I could lose my money. But it’s the possibility this company represents that excites me, albeit cautiously so.
The Rise of Photo Dynamic Compounds
The essence of Theralase’s cancer treatment is a class of drugs called Photo Dynamic Compounds (PDCs). These are drugs which, when exposed to very specific types of light, become active in destroying cancer cells. The process is marginally invasive, in that the only invasiveness to tissue is the introduction of the light source, typically through a optical fibre.
The PDC is introduced to the organ or area of the body where the cancer has localized and then once absorbed into the cancer cells, the PDC is activated by light from the optical fibre. The PDCs become ‘cytotoxic’ (cell destructive) when activated by the light sources in the presence of oxygen. The Theralase PDCs have the added unique ability that they are able to be cytotoxic not only in the presence of oxygen, but more importantly in the absence of oxygen, where cancer cells are known to thrive.
Tumour induced in animal (BALB/c mice ) with tumour reaching 5.0 ?0.5 mm in size.Mice have survived 20 months cancer free after only 1 PDC treatment (Essentially the rest of their natural lives)
Tumour induced in animal (BALB/c mice ) with tumour reaching 5.0 ?0.5 mm in size.Mice have survived 20 months cancer free after only 1 PDC treatment (Essentially the rest of their natural lives)
According to the company’s recent press release:
Theralase Technologies Inc. reported today (February 13, 2014) that a recently published scientific paper demonstrated that its new family of Photo Dynamic Compounds (PDCs) has been proven to significantly destroy 2 types of bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)) in low oxygen atmospheres. The results are considered pivotal because the Theralase PDCs efficacy has been validated in both normal and low oxygen environments. Since the Theralase PDC platform technology is able to be used in both bacteria and cancer destruction, the described technology is offering a new paradigm for destruction of low oxygenated cancerous tumours. (Photodiagnosis Photodyn Ther. Dec;10(4):615-25).
“The ability for the PDC technology to be effective in low oxygen environments is considered to be an essential factor in the recurrence and progression of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. This form of disease represents up to 75% of newly diagnosed bladder cancer cases accounting for more than 386,000 cases and 150,000 deaths annually worldwide,” said Dr. Arkady Mandel, Chief Scientific Officer of Theralase Inc.
Dr. Mandel continued: “The abnormal decrease or the lack of oxygen supply to cells and tissues is called hypoxia and commonly presents in solid cancers, such as brain, bladder, breast, lung and prostate. Hypoxic cancers are extremely aggressive, resistant to standard therapies (chemotherapy and radiation therapy), and thus are very difficult to destroy. Tumor hypoxia is known to play a role in cancer metastasis (spread) and resistance to therapy, as well as the ability of cancer cells to escape destruction by the immune system.
The evidence supporting the Theralase PDC technology represents a potential solution for hypoxic cancers. In our work, we described a family of Theralase PDCs that have shown an ability to switch their photoreactivity from a Type II reaction (oxygen dependent) to a Type I (free radical mediated) reaction. This is strategic to the Company in that a Type I reaction is unique and opens the opportunity of using the PDCs beyond sterilization and the treatment of superficial cancerous lesions to the treatment of harder to treat hypoxic tumours”.
All very well and good, but what has been the reaction in the scientific community?
Peer Review Process Validates Theralase
There have been three peer reviewed papers published that validate the company’s statements of efficacy in these compounds’ ability to annihilate bacteria, viruses and cancer cells. One, by the American Society for Microbiology, published in February 2013, concluded:
“There is a recent recognition that Ru(II) (Ruthenium compounds) complexes might prove useful as Photo Dynamic agents, particularly for virulent strains of infectious disease including gram-negative pathogens, owing to their intrinsic cationic charge. However, these Photo Sensitizers (PSs) will continue to suffer from the inability to destroy microbial targets at low oxygen tension, and since precise knowledge of oxygen tension in a wound, for example, is not possible, the best PDI agent will be one that can function regardless of oxygen tension. In this report, we have demonstrated that it is possible to instill Type I activity into a simple mononuclear Ru(II) complex using principles derived from coordination and materials chemistry. This activity was outlined in Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus or SA) and Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in hypoxia, and proved to be as effective, or more effective in some cases, than normoxia. Equally important, the TLD1400 series is active at concentrations of over 3 orders of magnitude lower than the gold standard PS Methylene Blue (MB). This photodynamic potency applies to bacterial cells and cancer cells alike, and therefore, represents a new paradigm for designing Type I PS using Ru(II) that extends to other clinical applications.”
Note that the press release quoted previously addresses the concern of the “inability to destroy microbial targets at low oxygen tension”.
In another published paper The Royal Society of Chemistry stated
“To improve the effective elimination of tumours by Photo Dynamic Therapy (PDT), PSs with a range of 10 photophysical and photobiological attributes must be developed, including: specific cellular and subcellular targeting, maintenance of high cytotoxic load in oxygen-depleted environments and activation by light with necessary penetration depths, but sufficient photon quantum energy to produce cytotoxic Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). Thus, an ideal PS should be a chemically pure compound with high tissue and cellular selectivity that (i) exhibits long wavelength absorptions preferably at wavelengths (>670nm) to provide larger tissue penetration depths (e-1 attenuation depth), (ii) possesses a short injection to light time interval (drug-light interval), (iii) has low dark toxicity, but strong photo cytotoxicity, and (iv) rapidly clears from the system.
This precisely describes Theralase’s TLD1400 series PDCs.
Breakthrough Status
All this is good news. From an investment standpoint, the sooner this gets to human trials, the sooner we see results for human cancers and the sooner we might realize a return on investment.
During an interview, I asked how long that process might take.
According to Theralase CEO Roger Dumoulin-White:
“Well, that specifically depends on the regulatory approval authorities like Health Canada and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA, to their credit, has in July of 2012 created something called Breakthrough Status. This is in addition to their “Fast Track” approval that they have had in place since 2002 to encourage research and development into therapies and potential cures for orphan diseases (less than 200,000 individuals afflicted with the disease) In the United States, the Rare Diseases Act of 2002 defines rare disease strictly according to prevalence, specifically “any disease or condition that affects less than 200,000 persons in the United States,”[2] or about 1 in 1,500 people. This definition is essentially like that of the Orphan Drug Act of 1983, a federal law that was written to encourage research into rare diseases and possible cures.1 So “Fast Track” approval allows pharmaceutical and biotech companies a faster route through the FDA process in order to develop drugs or technology that could work on conditions that are not as common.
But in July of 2012, they came out with what’s called Breakthrough Status, which provides an even faster route through the regulatory quagmire. With Breakthrough Status there are three conditions that must be met to achieve this approval:
1) The treatment must treat a deadly disease and clearly cancer qualifies in this definition.
2) Existing therapies have not been able to effectively treat the condition. Bladder cancer has not had any new drugs approved for it for over 15 years, so progression in the destruction of this disease has stagnated.
3) Demonstrate safety and efficacy data, which is a substantial improvement over existing therapies, even on a small population.
On July 9, 2012 the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA) was signed. FDASIA Section 902 provides for a new designation – Breakthrough Therapy Designation. A breakthrough therapy is a drug:
• intended alone or in combination with one or more other drugs to treat a serious or life threatening disease or condition and
• preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development.
If a drug is designated as breakthrough therapy, FDA will expedite the development and review of such drug.
For more information, see:http://www.fda.gov/regulatoryinformation/legislation/federalfooddrugandcosmeticactfdcact/significantamendmentstothefdcact/fdasia/ucm341027.htm
So a small Phase 1 / 2a clinical trial, which was successful in demonstrating the safety, tolerability and efficacy of the treatment could potentially qualify for Breakthrough Status.
If the company was granted Breakthrough Status, the FDA works hand in hand with the company to minimize the time to commercialization to a bare minimum.
“So if all the stars are in alignment,” continued Demoulin-White, “after completion of our preclinical research this year, successful completion of our Phase 1 / 2a human clinical trial in 2015, and we are lucky enough to successfully petition the FDA to achieve Breakthrough Status, our PDC technology could be available to treat patients suffering from bladder cancer by early 2016.
If we were not able to achieve Breakthrough Status, we would still be eligible for Fast Track approval, which even with a Phase 2B or Phase 3 clinical study, would only delay commercialization an additional two to five years.
In parallel to this strategy, we would be actively looking for a co-development partner, most likely big pharma in order to aid in the distribution of this revolutionary technology to locations throughout North America and in due course the world.
So there are a number of different commercialization strategies that will depend on FDA regulatory approval status, but the fastest path to commercialization would be achieved if we were successful in being granted Breakthrough Status, allowing us to introduce the technology commercially almost immediately; however, if we were not successful on this front, we could elect either to raise more capital in order to complete further clinical studies or execute a co-development agreement with big pharma to allow them to partner with us through to commercialization.
So the answer to your question really lies in what the regulators decide, , if they support us two years from today on the shortest timeline, if they request more data up to seven years on a longer timeline.”
That is, if the company isn’t taken out in an acquisition sooner. Valuations for companies with effective cancer treatments are substantial.
Big Pharma is on the Hunt
Major biotechnology and life sciences companies are always on the lookout for promising therapies in the cancer space.
Reuters reported February 17 that Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) stated it will buy U.S.-based CoStim Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held biotechnology company focused on harnessing the immune system to eliminate immune-blocking signals from cancer, for an undisclosed price. The Swiss drugmaker said the move follows increasing evidence pointing to the role of the immune system in controlling cancer.
The table below shows a sampling of pharma deals in the last few years:
TLT_Pharma_Deals
Theralase Therapeutic Laser Platform Technology:
As if a cure for cancer wasn’t enough to carry this company to a touchdown for life sciences investors, almost equally substantial in terms of impact on future revenues is the company’s laser treatments for pain that is already in wide spread use. Theralase has over 800 of these systems installed and in use in Canada, and over 400 more in the U.S. and internationally.
The product is the TLC-1000 Cold Laser System, which Theralase has developed over 17 years and has been based on solid clinical research. There have been over 1 million patients successfully treated and thousands of Theralase lasers have been sold to health care practitioners around the world.
According to the company’s web site:
The Theralase super pulsed laser system can penetrate up to 4? into tissue, to promote cellular regeneration at the source of the injury and is the only laser on the market known to activate all three cellular pathways. www.theralase.com
Theralase is migrating the business from a one-time capital equipment purchase model, where they sell the units for a one-time cost in the $16,000 range, to a recurring revenue model, where they will lease the units to health care clinics, hospitals and practitioners for $500 per month, in perpetuity. With each unit generating on average, $10,000 a month for its customers, the new model is expected to substantially increase its market share for such devices worldwide.
The company is targeting $6.6 million in annual revenue from the first 400 such devices placed, providing a 20X return on investment for its clients.
2014 is the Year of Expansion for Theralase
The company has an ambitious year planned. Targeting the $100 billion annual US market for pain mitigation, Theralase will launch its next-generation patented TLC-2000 therapeutic laser system in the fourth quarter of this year.
It plans to launch sales offices in Calgary, Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles, Tampa, Chicago and Houston in 2014 and 2015 and will deploy an aggressive sales strategy seeking to displace competitive technologies in these markets with its superior products and revenue structures for clients.
Conclusion
Theralase is thus far under the radar of major pharmaceutical corporations, but with the recent breakthroughs in its PDC therapies in low-oxygen environments, the lid is coming off this story quickly. The company’s serious potential is offset by the normal risk associated with an earlier stage therapy like the TLD-1400 series of compounds, that of proving their safety and efficacy in human clinical testing.
On the plus side of their potential success is that there have been two previously FDA approved PDC drugs; specifically: Aminolevulinic Acid (ALA) and Photofrin®, which have been FDA approved for actinic keratosis (Rough, scaly patches of skin that are considered precancerous) and esophageal cancer, respectively. Theralase to their credit has tested their new TLD-1400 series of PDCs against these two FDA approved drugs and have demonstrated in documented scientific research that they are 668,000x more effective than ALA and 198x more effective than Photofrin®, while delivering a treatment with virtually no side effects. This bodes well for a successful Phase 1/2a clinical trial. The second plus in their corner is that their TLD-1400 series of drugs are nuclear acting, meaning that they enter cancer cells and lock onto the DNA of the cell, unlike ALA and Photofrin®. When light activated, this new class of PDCs destroy the cancer cell by what is called apoptosis or natural cell death, basically the cell dies of natural causes. The beauty of nuclear acting drugs is that it doesn’t matter if the cancer cell came from a mouse, an ostrich, a dolphin or a human, they are all destroyed with the same efficacy and safety profile, as these are all mammallian cells, known collectively as eukaryotes.
So the multi-billion dollar question is not what if the Theralase technology doesn’t work as well on humans as it does on mice, but more appropriately when will Theralase deliver us positive clinical study results.
1 Wikipedia – Rare Disease
2 US Department of Health and Human Services
As much as I would love to see Titan at $25 per share (no roll-back) I don't think we will ever see it.
Titan will get taken out as soon as they finish their testing on a completed product. Will this be above $5 maybe even $10? I believe so.
The only way I see $25 is a strategic partnership with a large distributor.
Everyone in the space knows them and has seen them.
Titan is too early for the J&J's of the world today (however lets not forget Hargrove's history), but there are plenty out there who will jump at the opportunity of acquiring a company such as Titan.
I mentioned some of them in past posts as an opinion already. Some people agreed and some people expressed reservations as to why not. An example is where i suggested Stryker and someone felt they had to digest their first acquisition and felt there is no way they would be a potential suitor Titan. I don't disagree that they would not be there today, but I can tell you they would not be out of the running either once Titan demonstrates their product. Of course they would take a close look at it.
Bottom line is this stock is cheap. It's going higher than its recent highs as well in my opinion. Once the new issue flippers are done (mostly the hedge guys who just want the warrant) selling their shares there will no longer be resistance.
I for one think it will be fun.
Lots of good chatter on he board this past weekend with informative information.
My opinion is Titan should be regularly putting out information on their progress. This way the market knows what's going on and that they are or are not on track. If they do this regularly, the company price and shareholders will be rewarded with a strong share price.
They should be attending all the US conferences in this space and continue to let people know who they are.
Regarding warrants (I see so many questions and comments), as per an earlier post I replied to the market is aware of them and takes them into consideration. A potential acquirer of Titan also knows the warrants exist and assumes they will exercised so they simply calculate how many shares as well as how many dollars will be in Titans account at the time of acquisition based on having them all exercised.
Currently the Series C warrants are in the money however they have about 4 years left on them. If you believe in Titan as most of us do there is no reason to exercise them today as you can wait it out for another 4 years. Unfortunately Titan did not put an early exercise clause on them so it could be as long as 4 years. Believe me, if the price rises again to $2.00 or more there will be people who will exercise their warrants early to simply lock in a profit as the warrants are not trading at their true value which should take into consideration the amount of time left on them in my opinion (time value).
The financing closes on the 19th so I suspect in the next week or so we will be trading much higher once the selling pressure is off.
Look at the price action of Titan just this last Friday. It traded very well all day around $1.38 CAN until the last 30 to 40 minutes when people (flippers and warrant riders) decided to sell before settlement day which is the 19th. They drove the price down by simply hitting any and all bids to get off their paper and this should be no surprise to anyone. The good news is that the selling pressure was less on Friday than some earlier trading days so it appears that most of the selling pressure has been eaten already.
Stay strong and as I said in earlier posts use this opportunity to purchase shares while the flippers and hedge guys keep it low. There is only a day or so more until they are gone in my opinion and experience.
To all the medical professionals on this board, keep the informative information coming. I find it useful to compare what I hear and learn.
Short answer is yes.
The market is aware of the warrants and the funds that will come in when exercised.
If someone deals with a decent brokerage firm and they exercise their warrants they should have their shares in a day or two. It's really how fast the company (Titan) can instruct their transfer agent to issue the shares and often the transfer agent is hired to simply administer the process on behalf of the company anyway.
The shares are fully free trading as well.
Regarding an earlier comment about ISRG and not being able to purchase Titan because of Anti-Trust Issues, I don’t believe that is going to be an issue. It is not as of Titan is producing and generating any revenue etc.
They would simply purchase them because Titans technology is way better than ISRG’s and they would incorporate it into their own current models and release Titans developed product (assuming it is fully developed by that time) as another product.
They would have all Titans patents as well.
In my opinion there are lots of reasons for ISRG to want to purchase Titan as well as many others however we just have to let it play out.
J&J would be a great fit and hopefully Hargrove can do something there.
Take a look at Stryker as this is an natural and easy purchase for them as well.
Regarding this mornings trading activity, its fine. It seems as if many of the flippers have slowed down their selling or are out already. If you look at the bids and offers there are some shares for sale but not like a couple days ago:
V:TMD Depth by Price @10:51:07http://www.stockwatch.com/App_Themes/Stockwatch/Images/chart_close.jpg
Bid
Ask
Price
1.31
1.32
1.33
1.34
1.35
1.36
1.37
1.38
1.39
1.40
Size
25,533
1,400
39,220
3,700
3,200
2,900
10,400
131,100
70,100
109,800
Orders
6
3
10
2
2
1
3
5
4
6
IMHO This will all play out fine in the long run.
On a side note, Theralase Technologies (TLTFF, TLT) had some positive news this morning. Lab results demonstrated bacteria destruction in hypoxic environments, giving further credence to the past research already completed by the company. Currently they are in the pre-clinical phase with their patented PDCs, but are about to release the TLC-2000, their new patented cold laser technology.
I absolutely stand by what I said earlier.
The selling going on yesterday is still investors hedging their position.
Think about it. If you purchased the new issue shares at $1.40 where it was priced and you have a FULL warrant go with it then you ascribe a value to the warrant – lets even say $0.10 per warrant at a minimum.
Then you could sell the your free trading shares all day long at $1.40 less the warrant value of $0.10 or $1.30 and you would still be even.
That is what is going on here.
The hedge guys were all over this issue.
I did not say that on the 19th this was going to rise to $2.00 but I am confident in my opinion that we will be there much sooner than most people think. So what if we don’t get there in the next few months, I have lots of time.
There is lots of strength from my perspective in the way this is trading.
If I only knew LOL.
I think it will be by a major healthcare company. I feel stupid saying that because that’s obvious.
It could be by any of the current players in the field today.
In the past I would have said Mako Surgical or Stryker however Mako was purchased by Stryker so Stryker is still on the table as a possible acquirer. Make was into hard tissue (bone) and so Titan would be very complimentary as they are non-competitive to what Mako did.
You could also look at J&J. This is a natural for J&J.
I also would have normally thought GE Medical but my understanding is they are sticking to and continuing to focus on imaging. This still makes sense as they have the vision system where GE could apply their technology.
There are others out there such as Hansen Medical as well. There are more names however I will have to do some more DD when I have more time.
Frankly, the natural buyer should actually be Intuitive Surgical. The doctors hate Intuitive from what I understand. Titan has lots of what the doctors want in their product today and they would get the patents as well. It would save them a whole lot of time developing their own product with Titans bells and whistles and they could probably do the purchase for cash, shares or combination of both.
As for a time frame, I think sooner than people think now that they are cashed up. A competitor would not want them to get the product 100% completed which would increase the value substantially so there will be eyes closely watching Titan.
If they are not acquired then they will at worst form a JV with major group which would bring in more cash (not for stock) and bring in a ready made distribution partner.
Unfortunately I strongly feel this is a $10 stock (which still values Titan at the low end of the spectrum compared to its peers) but because it’s a Canadian company it will probably get taken out for something more like $5 to $7. I am only guessing though and applying a 30% to 50% discount to what its real value should be.
Simply tell your broker to “sell short” the number of shares you wish to sell and at whatever price you are trying to short it at. Make sure you are clear that you are shorting the shares though.
I am not up to date on the exact rules such as not being able to short a stock under a certain price but its that simple.
Your brokerage firm might have its own rules as well.
I just found the short positions on Titan.
As of January 15th the short position on Titan was 118,700 versus December 31 where it was only 12,300. As the price in Titan increased from $0.95 to $1.11 (price of Titan at Jan 15th) the short position also increased.
As of January 31 Titan had a short position of 849,500 shares which is up 730,800 from January 15th. The price of Titan on Jan 31, was $1.74.
As the stock price was rising, people decided to short the stock. Now with the recent financing they can cover their short position with shares from the new issue (so these shares will not hit the market) or buy back their shares in the open market since we are back to the $1.40 range.
Either way this is very positive for the current shareholders of Titan.
Let me explain why. Those who shorted the shares and are now covering with the new-issue shares will not be selling these shares into the market which is positive for the current Titan shareholders. Those who shorted already in the past and are part of that 849,500 existing short position will have to cover by going into the market and simply buy back their shares.
Yes there are still some hedge guys who absolutely are selling their shares to keep the warrant such as the seller of the 250,000 shares block others referred to earlier but this is much more positive over all.
This is an absolute sign that this is going higher and if the shorts do not cover they are going to get very hurt.
Lastly, I heard from good sources that as the price increased to the $1.70 range there were people who participated in the last round of financing who held the Series C warrants that were shorting and would exercise their Series C warrants if they had to in order to cover their short position. They were right on the money with this strategy and can now keep their warrants and simply cover their short position by just going into the open market right now. Good for them as they made a dollar on the right move.
Correct.
Once the market absorbs these shares we are off again to $1.50 plus in my opinion.
The sell off today was fine as this was simply the extra new shares hitting the market.
These are short term hedge guys who just want a warrant for free.
Hopefully Titans “unsophisticated to the capital markets management team” will now get to work on completing their product, put out some positive news flow and concentrate on company business since they are funded.
Once the hedge selling is done this looks like it will go higher as witnessed yesterday morning.
Sort of correct.
Titan did not formally close the transaction as this cannot happen until the 19th however the books for orders closed Friday with the 15% already done.
They re-opened the books yesterday for more and the over-all deal will still close on the 19th.
Titan could have actually raised as much as $45 million according to the off the shelf prospectus they filed.
On Friday they announced the books closed around $9 million (plus the 15% shoes).
They re-opened the offering to allow more. That is it.
Correct from what I understand now.
See my earlier post to Honeycomb.
Titan re-opened the offering to accommodate some investors and because the price was trading above issue nicely there was lots of demand so the salespeople stupidly let in some hedge guys.
In summary, it was the Canadian hedge guys or sophisticated retail guys selling their shares when the deal re-opened causing it to fall.
The deal was sold in Canada so that’s where the shares came from I assume – Canadian new issue subscribers hedging their position for the warrant.
Again, all my opinion but I am most likely correct as you can see exactly how it played out.
I too am hoping for some PR in the near future however I know exactly what happened today and why the price dropped suddenly in the middle of the day.
I got a call from a friend (an extremely sophisticated investor) who told me he just went long on 100,000 shares of Titan and asked my opinion (sort of late to ask after you get informed the shares were purchased already).
In our discussion I learned that Titan re-opened the books for the financing as there were some investors who were too late to get in last week as the books on the deal closed early (which Frankly is bullsh_t since the company was halted for a day). They allowed another approximately $2 to $2.5 million in the deal and now since the deal was trading above its issue price the sales people and Dundee and their selling group (at least those in the know at those firms) obviously called some of the their clients who may include the hedge guys to step in.
Guess what happened next. All these new people started to sell their shares down to $1.40 which spooked other people into selling as well. They were type of investors I referred to earlier who just want to flip their shares and keep the warrants.
The people at Titan are not the most market savvy people (furthest from that actually) and they let this happen because they just wanted the money.
The good news is that when the press release comes out this will be cleared up and the price will move higher. You saw the way Titan was trading this morning and had they not re-opened the offering I strongly feel we would have been in the $1.50 plus range – though I in my opinion we are still going there. They now have something closer to $13 million that $10.5 million as of Friday so the runway is even longer now.
The market just needs the news as no one understood why the shares were dropping today after a strong opening and now you have it.
Again, if you have not stepped in already, time to do so as this will not last at these levels.
From this point forward, its all about execution.
I am referring to Canadian hedge funds.
They will take down the new issue which does not close until the 19th and begin shorting the number of shares they were given to only be covered by their newly issued financing allocation. This leaves them with a warrant for free,
The good news is that there are not many hedge funds in last weeks financing. I am less familiar with the US rules but there are no US participants in last weeks financing anyway so you may very well be correct. My example is Titan specific.
You also mentioned the stock didn't take a .10 or .20 decline Friday- your right, it took a decline of .28 or almost 20%...You care to elaborate on your point further, maybe I just got lost there.
Regarding this question, it might have been my mistake for not clearly elaborating. The $0.10 or $0.20 decline I was referring to was $0.10 or $0.20 below the financing price of $1.40.
I fully expected the share price to drop for a day or so to the $1.40 range and then bounce but often you will see it drop a little more to something like the $0.10 or $0.20 I referred to.
The way the stock is behaving is showing its strength and how it's going to go higher in my opinion.
If you don't have any shares this financing gave you the opportunity to step in again at a lower level because when the deal closes on the 19th there is nothing holding the share price back any more.
I hope this helps.
I will try to look at this board again Monday evening but I feel compelled to respond before I sign off.
In my experience the price is being held down right now only for a very short period of time more. In fact it looks like this will probably begin to start rising again tomorrow.
Usually when such an issue comes out similar to Titan where there is a share and a warrant or a half warrant, the hedge funds sell the shares short driving the price down (hence you see where it is today) and they cover their short with the new issue shares from the financing and they get left with a warrant or a half warrant for free.
We saw Titan trade on Friday approximately 3.5 million shares which is half the size of the financing and it traded up to the price of the financing as well. This is extremely positive as the short sellers were covering or there are not many of them out there.
This means one thing and that is the price is going to increase as there is not much resistance. Normally the price would drop by something like $0.10 to $0.20 which is the approximate value of the warrant however this did not happen Friday.
The reason Titan cannot rely on the funds from the Series C warrants which are in the money is because they have 4 years left on them before they expire.
Some people may have exercised them as I stated in an earlier post however that amount might have been only $500,000. That is not nearly enough for what Titan required.
There is nothing to force the warrant holders to exercise them early so even if the share price rises to $5.00 the warrant holders can continue to hold these warrants for another 4 years (the series C in this case).
Titan had no choice but to do this financing.
Many companies put special terms on their warrants. Such terms might be something like if the share price trades at $X.XX price per share for a period of 30 days the company has the right to force an early exercise of the warrants however Titan did not do this in the past so there is nothing to force an early exercise.
Positive vs Negative Dilution
OK. In its most basic and very simple terms yes, technically there is dilution as Titan is adding more shares to its float.
This type of dilution is not negative dilution though.
What do I mean by that? Let me explain how I view this situation.
There is positive dilution and then there is negative dilution. This is the positive type of dilution.
I view negative dilution as issuing a huge number of shares for “very little or nothing in return”. If Titan had debt on its books for something like $2 million (I pulled this number out of the air) and the share price was still around $0.40 per share and Titan decided that to make a deal with the debt holders to simply clean up their balance sheet by allowing the debt holders to convert this debt at such low levels, they would end up issuing 5 million shares to these debt holders for that $2 million. These new and most likely only a small number of debt holders would be issued somewhere in the range of 7% to 8% of the company. That is simple and useless dilution. No money came in to Titan so no real benefit to the company or its existing shareholder and now these former debt holders become collectively some of the largest shareholders in the company. They may or may not be friendly shareholders to the company as well.
Another example in my opinion of negative dilution is that had Titan’s share price still have been in the $0.40 range and had management raised the same $10 million as they just did last week (and to be comparable to every other financing Titan has done in the past I will use a 10% discount versus the usual 20% discount) they would have issued shares for a price of $0.36 per share plus a warrant at $X.XX per warrant. That means they would have issued 27.8 million shares ($10 million / $0.36) and would have diluted the company by about 1/3. That is extremely heavy dilution and would have been irresponsible and unfair to the existing shareholders. Has I been an existing shareholder of Titan and had they raised $10 million at such a low share price I would have been very upset due to the unnecessary large raise at such a low price. In my opinion negative dilution.
What happened last week was the company received enough funds to keep them going for about 18 months with the new funds they raised as well as the remaining funds they had in the bank. This was positive for the company as now management can get back to the business of finishing the development of the product or arrange a JV with a major who has lots of money or maybe even find a strategic for some type of takeout (hopefully at $10 or more LOL). The dilution was minimal and was necessary as they would have been out of funds in 3-4 months anyway. They received lots of money and for this there was only approximately 9% dilution (don’t quote me on the exactly number as it could be 10% but you get the idea) to the shareholders. This to me is very positive and I happened to be a shareholder before this financing and I am still a shareholder and I will continue to be one.
There is no doubt in my mind the share price will be substantially higher than it is today. Great company with great technology and lots of money in the bank.
Regarding the warrants. Same answer as above. Most of the warrants that Titan has outstanding are at higher prices than Titan is trading at now. The only lower priced warrants at the Series C warrant which I am certain have an exercise price of $1.25.
Yes the company will have to issue more shares each time someone exercises their warrants but Titan will also get lots of money for these warrants (and they don’t have pay brokerage fees and legal fees when these are exercised). It’s not like these warrants are $0.40 or $0.50 warrants. Essentially it’s a decent way for a company to pre-arrange its financings for the future. Most of these warrants are $1.85 and higher I think (again, with the exception of the Series C warrants).
If you invested in Titan and did not realize that this was a technology development company that would require more money to complete, test and build its product then you are invested in the wrong stock. When you develop technology like Titan is developing lots of money is required. The good news for Titan and its shareholders is that their technology is amazing and I strongly believe that someone will come in and take them out before they ever get to market this technology.
Sorry for being long winded but I hope you understand why the dilution was minimal in the grand scheme of things. Titan is now virtually fully funded and they simply need to focus on completing the development of the product.
This is my opinion and I would like to know if you disagree on much of what I tried to explain here with the answer to your question.
Titan will now go much higher is my bottom line summary.
Titan Is Virtually Fully Financed & Going Higher
I have been reading the board over the weekend and thought I would give my perspective to which feedback would be welcome.
There is minimal concerns regarding dilution. For those who don’t feel the same, go ahead and sell on Monday .
We all know the company needed money and a few on this board have spoken to the CFO of Titan directly who confirmed they require about $20 to $25 million to complete the product and get it to commercialization. Therefore who cares about issuing 7.3 million shares in the long run. The dilution is not much when you consider the money in the bank as well as the value for their technology.
This raise gives the company the time needed to complete further milestones which continue to create value for the company which ultimately means a higher share price.
If the share price continues to rise, then warrants will continue to be exercised. I have heard through good sources that many of the series C warrants for $1.25 got exercised when Titan was trading at its recent $1.75 levels just prior to last week’s financing. Warrant holders simply wanted to lock in their profit. Let’s look at the Series C warrants alone. There are about 6 million of these warrant outstanding which when fully exercised alone will bring in $7.5 million. Think about that, yes there is about 4 years left in their life (but many of these warrant holders will exercise these warrants early) but with the proceeds from the recent financing of $10 million plus the proceeds from the C warrants for another $7.5 million Titan will have $17.5 million. Keep in mind that I have still not even counted the other series of warrants.
If Titans share price goes back to where it was before the recent financing and actually goes through $2 which in my strong opinion is in the bag once the financing is closed (February 19th as per Titan’s news release) then more warrants will continue to get exercised bringing in more money.
Summary, Titan at this stage appears to be virtually fully financed once you take into consideration the warrants. The price action on Friday when Titan opened for trading was also a huge sign. The fact that it closed a penny below its recent financing of $1.40 on millions of shares shows the strength of Titan and that it is going higher.
Pointofreturn, thanks for the heads up on Theralase. I inquired and also heard the same people involved.
Stockwatch News
To Stockwatch News
Today at 7:15 PM
Loyalist Group acquisition of Study English
Ticker Symbol: C:LOY
Loyalist Group acquisition of Study English
Loyalist Group Ltd (C:LOY)
Shares Issued 131,908,835
Last Close 2/5/2014 $0.69
Wednesday February 05 2014 - Acquisition
The TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation relating to a share purchase agreement dated Jan. 29, 2014, between the shareholders of Study English In Canada Inc., Study English In Canada (Vancouver) Inc., Upper Career College of Business & Technology Inc. and Upper Career College of Business & Technology (Vancouver) Inc., and Loyalist Group Ltd. Pursuant to the agreement, the company shall acquire all the issued and outstanding shares in the capital of the vendors, which are accredited English-as-a-second-language schools and private career colleges located in Toronto and Vancouver.
In consideration, the company will pay $1,016,284, issue 1,666,666 shares at a deemed price of 66 cents to the vendors and extinguish $2,465,208.63 of trade payables owing to the company by the vendors.
For more information, refer to the company's news release dated Jan. 30, 2014.
© 2014 Canjex Publishing Ltd.
This is the CEO's Presentation from The Cambridge House Investment Conference
Published on Feb 3, 2014
A Must Watch
This is a gift.
FYI Last Financing Before Commercialization
This financing is going to be amazing for Titan!
The company needed approximately $30 million (if you actually speak to the company they will tell you that, I put a call into their IR dept. this afternoon). This will get them a complete finished product and a tested product!!!!
This financing will be in the $20 to $25 million range and includes a warrant as well – this will bring in more funding.
With all the other warrants outstanding (2 series of warrants in-the-money currently) there will be almost double the funding required, so this is the ABSOLUTE LAST FINANCING this company will ever need to complete the final product.
This is brilliant for the company and tomorrow there will most likely be a HUGE buying opportunity as some people will probably sell into this financing and drive the price down.
I will be accumulating over the next two weeks.
Once the financing is closed, you will see Titan rise again
As an investor looking to diversify my holdings into some Bitcoin companies, it would be much appreciated if another iHub user, perhaps the creator of this board, would briefly summarize some of the more prominent BTC equities.
Makes sense if the shares just became free trading. Given no material change in operations, this seems like a good buying opportunity.
LGLTF trading at a discount to LOY on the Canadian side.
LOY is currently trading @ $0.72
That's $0.6452 USD
LGLTF is currently $0.6121
Makes sense to buy US if you like the company.
Loyalist Group to acquire Study English
2014-01-30 08:39 ET - News Release
Mr. Andrew Ryu reports
LOYALIST TO ACQUIRE STUDY ENGLISH IN CANADA
Loyalist Group Ltd. has entered into a definitive agreement for the acquisition of Study English in Canada, a licensed English-as-a-second-language school operator with campuses in Toronto and Vancouver. The proposed acquisition would also include the Upper Career College of Business & Technology campuses in Toronto and Vancouver.
SEC had consolidated revenues of $9.5-million and net income of $1.16-million in the most recent 12-month period. Loyalist will pay $5.5-million for SEC, of which approximately $3.46-million will be paid in cash or cash equivalents, and, subject to certain closing adjustments, $2.04-million will be paid through the issuance of Loyalist common shares, with $600,000 worth of such shares being held in escrow for a period of 10 months following closing as security for certain defined postclosing adjustments. The parties expect to complete the transaction on or around Feb. 5, 2014.
"This acquisition adds a well-respected and highly profitable operation to the Loyalist family," said chief executive officer Andrew Ryu. "It also increases our presence in the Toronto market and, more importantly, bolsters our presence in Europe, from which SEC attracts many of its students. I look forward to working with the SEC team as colleagues and fellow shareholders as we continue to build Loyalist."
Completion of the transaction is subject to certain conditions, including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
About SEC
Study English in Canada is a prestigious English preparation school. SEC offers highly tailored, results-driven programs at both its Toronto and Vancouver campuses. Its curriculum structure allows students to design personal, specialized schedules in order to reach their goals.
We seek Safe Harbor.
Loyalist Group to acquire Study English
2014-01-30 08:39 ET - News Release
Mr. Andrew Ryu reports
LOYALIST TO ACQUIRE STUDY ENGLISH IN CANADA
Loyalist Group Ltd. has entered into a definitive agreement for the acquisition of Study English in Canada, a licensed English-as-a-second-language school operator with campuses in Toronto and Vancouver. The proposed acquisition would also include the Upper Career College of Business & Technology campuses in Toronto and Vancouver.
SEC had consolidated revenues of $9.5-million and net income of $1.16-million in the most recent 12-month period. Loyalist will pay $5.5-million for SEC, of which approximately $3.46-million will be paid in cash or cash equivalents, and, subject to certain closing adjustments, $2.04-million will be paid through the issuance of Loyalist common shares, with $600,000 worth of such shares being held in escrow for a period of 10 months following closing as security for certain defined postclosing adjustments. The parties expect to complete the transaction on or around Feb. 5, 2014.
"This acquisition adds a well-respected and highly profitable operation to the Loyalist family," said chief executive officer Andrew Ryu. "It also increases our presence in the Toronto market and, more importantly, bolsters our presence in Europe, from which SEC attracts many of its students. I look forward to working with the SEC team as colleagues and fellow shareholders as we continue to build Loyalist."
Completion of the transaction is subject to certain conditions, including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
About SEC
Study English in Canada is a prestigious English preparation school. SEC offers highly tailored, results-driven programs at both its Toronto and Vancouver campuses. Its curriculum structure allows students to design personal, specialized schedules in order to reach their goals.
Frankfurt Listing & European buyers (TTX:Frankfurt)
In Euros big launch in Europe will bring big excitement and a bigger SP
theralase technologies inc
(TTX:Frankfurt)
Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard/v.tlt/theralase-technologies-inc#PcTcHhoiqYd6bDxQ.99
Huge buying opportunity before a move up here
The Road Show
Roger seems like he's making a big push for the Europeans,especially with the new Frankfrut listing.
Good for the company.
IMHO I think the problem for Theralase isn't lack of innovative products, or the management team, but rather, the lack of exposure. More eyes need to see the Theralase story and what they're working on.
I reas somewhere (probably the company site) that there were a handul of other conference events scheduled as well.
Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard/v.tlt/theralase-technologies-inc#8CLgpZxQaS41RdGg.99